The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation today announced the start of an international competition to design a memorial at the World Trade Center site for all those lost on September 11th and in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Anyone, anywhere in the world 18 years of age or older can take part in the competition, but competitors must first register by May 29, 2003 to participate. Competition guidelines - describing essential elements the memorial must embody, the site parameters for the memorial, and rules for the competition – can be downloaded at the memorial competition website, www.WTCSiteMemorial.org. Participants can call a toll-free number to hear an overview of the guidelines, 1-800-696-0081, or fax a written request for guidelines or a registration form to 1-800-718-5699.

The LMDC also announced today a global outreach campaign to encourage participation in the competition, featuring ads in newspapers and magazines around the world, and a new campaign to inform the jury about the public’s aspirations for the memorial. The campaign, titled “Public Perspectives”, will include a mailing to all families of victims of the February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. On May 28, 2003 LMDC will hold a large-scale public forum at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, webcast through LMDC’s website, www.renewnyc.org. LMDC will also conduct a targeted outreach initiative to Lower Manhattan community groups and organizations, ensuring that all residents, businesses, workers and survivors are involved with the process.

The forums will ensure that the jury is informed of the public’s aspirations when reviewing submissions, while entrusting jury members with the ultimate responsibility of selecting a final design.

In a joint statement to competitors, Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said: “On behalf of all New Yorkers, we welcome your participation in the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition. This is the most significant public memorial project in our City's recent history, and we are depending on the creative community for your vision and insight. Memorials serve so many essential functions: they give us a context for remembering the past, engaging the present, and reflecting on the future. We are seeking to honor the lives lost in the attacks of 9/11 on New York City - and on Washington, DC and the flight that ended in Shanksville, PA - as well as during the attack on the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993. We also need to commemorate the resilience as well as the grieving of survivors, co-workers, neighbors, and citizens profoundly affected. The values of liberty and democracy transcend geography and nationality, and they must be given physical expression as we reimagine Lower Manhattan. By taking part in this competition, you have already helped to heal our City and demonstrate once again, New York does not stand alone.”

LMDC Chairman John C. Whitehead said, “The World Trade Center Site Memorial will ensure that future generations never forget the thousands of people killed on September 11th as well as the six people killed during the first World Trade Center attack on February 26, 1993. The memorial will not only recall life, it will reaffirm life itself. The heroism displayed on September 11th revealed the bright light of humanity even in our darkest hour. The global outpouring of support in the days after showed that freedom is not an American idea, it is a universal ideal.”

LMDC Interim President Kevin M. Rampe said, “The public has played an integral role in shaping the renewal of Lower Manhattan and now, in the development of a memorial. Public Perspectives will ensure that the jury’s selection of a final design is informed by the public’s aspirations for the memorial- including victims’ families and all of the countless individuals around the world who share in the desire to remember and honor those lost on February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001.”

The memorial jury will be responsible for evaluating and reviewing all entries in the international World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition administered by LMDC. The jury is comprised of thirteen individuals representing various points of view-- including world renowned artists and architects, a family member, a Lower Manhattan resident and business owner, representatives of the Governor and Mayor, and other prominent arts and cultural professionals. In addition, David Rockefeller, prominent philanthropist, distinguished statesman, long-time leader in the downtown business community, and visionary behind the World Trade Center, serves as an honorary member of the jury.

Submissions will be considered from registered participants only and are due by 5pm EDT on June 30, 2003. During the first stage of the two-stage competition, members of the jury will evaluate anonymous submissions. During the second stage, finalists will be asked to further develop their design proposals, which the LMDC will reveal to the public while the jury continues to deliberate. The jury will select a winning design in fall 2003.